If you ask anyone who grew up in Houston, they are most likely guaranteed to have a fond memory of spending summer days walking from rollercoaster to rollercoaster throughout Six Flags AstroWorld or counting down the days until it was time to use their season pass again. Unfortunately, the beloved park closed its gates over a decade ago and Houston hasn’t been able to let go of their love for AstroWorld ever since. With the help of Mayor Sylvester Turner and popular Houston-born rapper Travis Scott, the city should be staying hopeful for the amusement park to make its long-awaited comeback.
Last weekend, Travis Scott held his famous ‘Astroworld Festival’ for the second year in a row, which is held right across the street from where the city’s beloved AstroWorld park once stood. The hype that surrounds the festival coincides with the hype that surrounds the amusement park itself, even 15 years later, and serves as a reminder that the city is getting impatient with all the promises of an AstroWorld return being in the works.
Since AstroWorld closed down, while simultaneously marking an end to the entertainment district in Houston, the city used its remains and old standing grounds for parking lots and more room for the once-a-year rodeo. Luckily, Travis Scott and his Astroworld Festival have brought more attention to the demand for the cherished theme park’s return and Scott himself has helped make the idea into a reality. Back in February of this year, Mayor Sylvester Turner joined Scott on stage to present him a key to the city but ultimately ended up giving hope to all of Houston by stating: “Because of him, we want to bring another amusement park back to the city of Houston”.
Shortly after, Turner elaborated on his surprise announcement by stating that he had been working with architects and developers in order to make the vision of a new AstroWorld-level amusement park into a reality.
While Houstonians started to lose hope after not hearing updates for months, the mayor provided yet another confirmation just last month by announcing on his social media that he was working on bringing “a theme park like Astroworld back to Houston”. To make it even more clear that it was official, he added that he would deliver another announcement within a few weeks.
AstroWorld has been closed down for about 15 years now and it seems like the ongoing popular demand for an AstroWorld reboot was constantly being ignored until Travis Scott came into the picture. The past year has brought many updates and a lot of hope to the majority of the city who have been looking forward to the return of the theme park. Scott has done a great job in working with Mayor Turner to make the dreams of Houstonians everywhere finally become existent after years of empty promises and silence on a matter that would benefit the city and its people enormously. With the way things look so far, 2020 might finally be the year that Houston gets to welcome back their much-missed amusement park. Travis Scott and his festival showcase yet another way that music makes a huge impact on people – and this time it's our own city that's on the receiving end of it!